Secret of Betrayal: Book Two of The Destroyer Trilogy by DelSheree Gladden

chest angrily. “I never said I was proud. I don’t want to kill people. I
hate the idea of hurting anyone. I am not the monster everyone thinks I
am, but I will stand up for my friends. Milo ran from your brothers, hid, and
helped beat you off when you came back for him. I think that deserves respect,
even from you.”
    For a long time, the darkness occupying the room
makes more sound than Braden does. It is disturbing
how quiet he can be. When he does finally speak, I jump in surprise.
    “I’m sorry,” he says. “I know you were
protecting Milo, but those men were my friends, my brothers. The fact that you
were doing the right thing doesn’t change that they’re dead. It isn’t an easy
thing to get over.”
    If there’s one thing I can agree with Braden on,
it’s that. Death never really leaves you once it stains your soul.
     “I didn’t know it was so many,” I say
quietly. I knew for sure that I had killed at least two. The last Guardian
Lance faced had definitely been dead. Other than that, I had no idea that night
had been so deadly.
    “You did what you had to do,” Braden says. His
body suddenly feels very close to me, but I can’t make myself move away. He
continues, seemingly unaffected by our nearness. “And at the time, I did what I
had to do. I’d rather not talk about it anymore.”
    I nod, more than happy to change the topic … and
get away from him. I step away slowly. I’m aiming for the light switch, but I
stumble over the corner of the bed again. Braden’s quiet amusement at my
clumsiness brings blood rushing to my face. Thankful it’s still dark, I stand
back up. Desperate to get this encounter over with, I make for the light switch
and flip it up. The light that suddenly fills the room makes me blink rapidly.
When I can see again, I’m faced with Braden two inches in front of me. I barely
keep myself from gasping.
    “Would you stop doing that?” I demand.
    “What?”
    “Sneaking up on me. It’s getting really irritating.”
    “Well, maybe you should work on not being
surprised so easily. I know some pretty decent Concealors if you need some pointers,” he says. “Although, that would mean I’d miss out on
seeing you jump so often. Maybe I won’t tell you who I know.”
    I scowl at him and back away. “My Concealment
skills are perfectly fine, for your information. Now if you happen to know any
good Spiritualists …” I let my words trail off immediately. I hadn’t meant to
come even close to that topic with him around. His freakish ability to put me
at ease is beyond worrisome.
    “Spiritualists,” Braden muses. “That brings me
back to why I’m here. I want to know what happened in the hall with that girl,
Casey. No more avoiding me. I want an explanation for why I’m keeping an eye on
her.”
    “Why do you care so much?” I ask, suddenly wary.
I, of course, explained everything to Lance and Milo, but all I asked of Braden
was to watch over Casey. He shouldn’t know anything about what happened between
us.
    “You had to pull her back from the spirit world,
that much was clear, but I don’t understand how she got stuck there in the
first place. Or how you finally got her back. I’m not
familiar enough with your spiritual energy to have caught everything that
happened. I just know there was a lot of energy involved.”
    My breath freezes in my chest. How does he know
any of that? Did Casey actually tell people what happened? She’s on thin ice
with the rest of the school as it is. I can’t imagine she’d risk actually
telling anyone that the Destroyer had to rescue her from the spirits. That
would be social suicide. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    I try to get away from him, but a
Strength-enhance hand grips my shoulder and stops me momentarily. I shove his
hand off of me with a flick of my wrist. The burst of pain from him doesn’t
last long enough. We both finish the exchange glaring at each other.
    Braden breaks the standoff first.